Serra

Serra was a human planeswalker who created a plane of her own that consisted of almost pure white mana. She later relocated to Ulgrotha where she helped combat the evil Baron Sengir with her husband and fellow planeswalker Feroz.

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Although neither the location nor circumstances of the birth of the planeswalker Serra are known to us, it is known that she was named for a benevolent goddess, as she was prophesied to represent the coming of that goddess.

The prophecies turned out to be correct. Although the conditions of her ascension are as mysterious as those of her birth, she soon rose as a planeswalker and began to wander the planes of the multiverse. An unknown amount of time later, she grew weary of wandering and decided to settle down and create her own plane, a perfect plane of white mana.

Although she tried to eliminate all other types of mana from her plane, it was only possible to minimize them. Unfortunately, beings with an essence of a color other than white, especially black, would unbalance the plane and destroy its perfection if they were to enter frequently enough. Thus, Serra outlawed the use of black mana and those with an essence of black.

Serra began to work on creating a perfect plane. She created a palace for herself to reside in out of stone and crystal. Her inner sanctum was a huge room filled with trees and birds, known as Serra’s Aviary. Her most private chamber was in the branches of one of the trees. In this chamber sat the cocoon. The cocoon was a powerful artifact formed of glowing crystal. Its purpose was to slow the degradation of the realm. Just like the Ineffable of Phyrexia slept to uphold his realm, Serra slept to uphold hers. The cocoon would also heal whoever slept inside of it.

Serra created countless floating islands that floated around her realm. Everything there was stuck in its state of most beauty: the sun was stuck in a permanent sunrise in the west and the flowers were permanently in full bloom. Time was not measured, as who needs time in a perfect place? There was no need for food and water, as the air was a sufficient source of nourishment.

Serra then created various beings to fill up her realm. The Sisters of Serra were human-like attendants that served her in the palace. Angels were winged beings who patrolled the realm and did her bidding away from her palace. Archangels had the job of punishing all evildoers found in the realm.

Births were rare, so when parents were expecting a child, they would reside in the palace under Serra’s direct care. Children were personally educated by Serra. They were taught service, meditation, faith, and other values.

One day, the angels found something that would change Serra and her realm forever. While being pursued by Phyrexians, Urza, and his Phyrexian companion, Xantcha, had wandered into the realm. Both of them were unconscious. They were brought to Serra for judgment. Urza had a white mana essence, so he was allowed to stay in her cocoon and be healed.

Xantcha, however, had a black essence, which was enough to warrant her death. However, Serra sensed that a piece of Urza was residing inside Xantcha. She had no way of knowing whether it was important or not, and was hesitant to attempt to do anything to Xantcha, as it might harm the artifact, and possibly Urza. However, Serra thought that she would likely die. She did not look upon death, only life, and had Xantcha put on one of the islands in isolation with one of her Sisters to watch her.

Five years later, Urza was fully recovered. Xantcha had also awoken as well. She was stranded on one of the islands, under the direct watch of one of the Sisters of Serra. Unfortunately, Serra did not know where Xantcha had been put, and the archangels were out looking to destroy her.

Xantcha found out that black mana could be felt all across the realm, and she called upon it to alert the archangels of her location, as she had grow tired of waiting around. Soon, the archangels showed up with the Aegis, a diamond-shaped device capable of creating deadly beams of fire. They used it to seriously injure the Sister and temporarily blind Xantcha before Serra realized what they were doing and put an immediate stop to it.

Both Xantcha and the Sister were then brought back to the palace, where they were given a personal audience with Serra. The Sister was placed in the cocoon to recuperate, and Xantcha was reunited with Urza. The pair soon left the plane.

Unfortunately, the Phyrexians were relentlessly pursuing Urza across the planes, which led them to Serra’s realm. The defenders of the realm put up a good fight and drove the invaders back, but heavy casualties had been inflicted. Worse, the presence of such a large group of black mana based beings was enough to permanently damage Serra's Realm.

It was still functional, but it had lost its purity and perfection. As Serra was to learn, the peace and sanctity of her realm were as fragile as glass. Serra was saddened by the loss of her plane’s purity and soon left, leaving it in the hands of the bloodthirsty archangel, Radiant, who had always been in defiance of Serra.

Serra wandered the planes for a while, and then she came upon a plane known as Ulgrotha, or the Homelands. It was a paradise rich in both mana and culture. There she met another planeswalker, Feroz, who despised the use of sentient creatures in duels. As soon as he found out that Serra’s angels served her out of there own free will, they fell in love and were soon married.

Serra formed the city of Aysen and played the role of spiritual guide and protector over them. In time, she came to be worshiped as a goddess. She formed the Serra paladins, a order of warriors dedicated to the upholding of Serra’s principles and the defense of the people of Aysen from the ravages of the evil vampire, Baron Sengir. She would choose each abbot of Aysen to make sure that it did not decline into petty politics and selfish corruption.

Serra and Feroz were forces of peace and protection on Ulgrotha. They did everything they could to keep the peace, such as meet with Baron Sengir to discuss the future of Ulgrotha and construct a magical ban to keep planeswalkers from outside Ulgrotha out. Once again, everything was perfect for Serra.

Serra's life on Ulgrotha wouldn't last as Feroz was killed in a laboratory experiment with a fire elemental. Heartbroken, Serra fled Ulgrotha soon after, leaving the city of Aysen leaderless. She wandered the planes once again.

Eventually, she ran into a thief who coveted her wedding ring and he tried to take it from her. She realized that since she had lost Feroz and her paradise—twice, she had nothing left to live for. She allowed the thief to stab her and soon died.

Serra is still worshiped and revered by the people of Aysen. Serra used to be worshiped in Benalia, but she was banned in favor of Gabriel Angelfire. Several of her former followers were rescued from her collapsing plane by Urza and played a role during the defense of Dominaria during the recent Phyrexian Invasion. The essence of her plane itself resided in the engine of the skyship, Weatherlight that was Dominaria’s greatest defender during this invasion.

It was later revealed that Serra's Realm was released from the Weatherlight engine when the Legacy was completed. Karona ended up in the plane and was met by Serra who told Karona that her and her companions could not remain there. After Karona explained their plight Serra mused that she reminded her of Urza who unintentionally caused great damage to the multiverse in his efforts to protect the multiverse from the Phyrexians.

The continuity of Scourge, the book which states Serra's Realm came back into existence, has been called into question causing Serra's current status to be called into question with it.